Dixons City Free School Secondary Application Opening September 2012 1 Contents Section Page 1 Applicant details 2 2 Outline of the school 5 3 Educational vision 6 4 Educational plan 4.1 Admissions 8 4.2 Curriculum and organisation of learning 10 4.3 Organisation of pupils 17 4.4 Pupil development and achievement 17 4.5 Behaviour and attendance 20 4.6 Community engagement 23 5 Evidence of demand and marketing 5.1 Evidence of parental demand 26 5.2 Marketing strategy 27 6 Organisational capacity and capability 6.1 Capacity and capability to set up a school 28 6.2 Capacity and capability to run a school 30 7 Premises 7.1 Possible site options 36 7.2 Details of your preferred site 37 7.3 Capital investment 37 8 Initial costs and financial viability App I 8.1 Financial sustainability at full capacity 8.2 Financial sustainability at 90% capacity 9 Suitability and declaration App II Section 1: Applicant details Details of Company Limited by Guarantee Name: Dixons City Academy Charitable Trust Ltd Company address: Dixons City Academy Charitable Trust Ltd <Redacted> Bradford <Redacted> Company registration number: 2303464 Main contact Name: <Redacted> Address: Dixons City Academy <Redacted> Bradford <Redacted> Email address: <Redacted> Telephone number: <Redacted> Members and Directors There are 3 Company Directors and members of the Governing Body appointed to date. Name: <Redacted> Position: <Redacted> Name: <Redacted> Position: <Redacted> Name: <Redacted> Position: <Redacted> Name: Position: Name: Position: Name: Position: 2 Does the Company Limited by Guarantee have any links (through the members, directors or otherwise) with any other charitable or commercial organisation? Yes If Y please provide their name and Charity Commission number and describe the role that it is envisaged to play in relation to the Free School: Dixons Allerton Academy (1127926). As a member of the Federation of Dixons schools, Dixons Allerton Academy may provide additional support and capacity. If your organisation is an existing independent school, please provide your six digit unique reference number: N/A 3 Declaration to be signed by a Company Director I confirm that the information provided in this application is correct to the best of my knowledge and that if the application is successful the Company will operate a Free School in accordance with the requirements outlined above and the requirements of the Independent Schools Standards* and the Funding Agreement with the Secretary of State. Signed: Print Name: <Redacted> Date: 31st May 2011 Each Member and Director of the Company should also complete and return the personal information and declarations from Section 9 (which is in a separate downloadable form). 4 Section 2: Outline of the school Proposed school name: Dixons City Free School Age range: 11-19 Proposed numbers in each year 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 group at point of opening and explanation of how pupil Reception numbers will expand to fill the school over time. Year 1 If your application includes Year 2 nursery provision, please add additional rows as appropriate. Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 112 112 112 112 112 112 112 Year 8 112 112 112 112 112 112 Year 9 112 112 112 112 112 Year 10 112 112 112 112 Year 11 112 112 112 Year 12 90 90 Year 13 70 If an existing independent school, provide details of your latest inspection (including the report), N/A current numbers on roll and total capacity of school. Will your school have a religious character (i.e. be a faith school)? If Y, please specify which faith. No Please see notes below (at the end of this table). Is this an application for a single- sex school? If so, please tick the No relevant box. Local authority area in which the school would be situated (and if near to a LA boundary please Bradford include names of neighbouring LAs). Dixons Free School (Secondary) 5 Section 3: Educational vision Our proposal is for a four-form entry co-educational 11-19 Free School serving the whole of Bradford, ideally located close to its sponsor, Dixons City Academy in West Bowling. We will open with Year 7 on 3rd September 2012, rising to our full capacity of 720 students by September 2018. As an Accredited School Provider and a National Support School, Dixons City Academy is looking to build a small federation of three to five schools in Bradford or the surrounding area, offering the same ethos and success to more of the 1,250 Year 6 pupils who apply for a place every year. To this end, we opened our second Academy, Dixons Allerton, in September 2009. As an outstanding and high-performing school with a comprehensive inner-city intake, we are well placed to replicate our success elsewhere. Over the last 3 years 80 - 90% of our students have achieved 5 A*-C at GCSE including English and Mathematics. Over the same period 85 - 90% of our students achieved 3 levels of progress in English and Mathematics. We have the trust of our parents and students, and are highly effective at raising their aspirations: while most of our parents did not benefit from higher education, most of our students do. We now want to bring our distinctive brand of success to more families in Bradford. As our most recent Ofsted report confirms, our provision across the wider “helping every child succeed’ agenda is also outstanding. This is evidenced by the fact that there are no underachieving sub-groups by gender, ethnicity or deprivation at Dixons City. As one of very few multi-ethnic schools in Bradford, our brand is strong among all local communities. We aim to make a significant contribution to community cohesion, both by working in partnership with other local schools and by attracting a mixed intake ourselves. There is a need across Bradford for 500 additional secondary places by 2015. Our outstanding track record, and with the experience we are getting at our second academy, we believe we are very well placed to make a success of the Dixons City Free School. The principal activity and objective of Dixons City Academy is the advancement, for public benefit, of education in Bradford by maintaining and developing a high performing secondary school. At Dixons City Free School, we shall achieve high value added across the board primarily by asserting collectively, consistently and strongly enough those shared values which are familiar to students from every background. The Dixons City Free School will truly reflect the mix of cultures around it, and as a secular school it will not be owned by any one of them, but by them all. The sponsor’s vision and mission is to provide high quality education and training, enriched throughout by technology, for the benefit of its students, staff and the wider community of Bradford. In seeking to fulfil this purpose, the Free School aims: . To listen to and have high expectations of every student, regardless of their ability, gender or background and to challenge every individual to reach their full potential. To create and maintain an environment based on mutual respect in which students develop a sense of pride and belonging and become self-disciplined and self-reliant individuals. To provide a safe environment where all students can enjoy and achieve. Dixons Free School (Secondary) 6 . To develop independent and responsible students through a range of team strategies and the use of information technology. To develop high level skills in the application of information and communication technologies amongst students of all abilities, giving them a head start as they enter further and higher education or employment. To equip all students with the knowledge and attitudes to play a positive role as active citizens in society as a whole. To give all students the opportunity for personal development and high self-esteem through experiences beyond the formal curriculum. To provide students with the knowledge and confidence to adopt healthy lifestyles. To support the concept of life-long learning by encouraging all students to continue in education or training after the age of 16 and by offering the local community a broad range of adult education courses in partnership with other organisations. To develop an active and responsive partnership with parents to enable them to support their children’s education. To establish mutually beneficial partnerships with industry, commerce and other organisations within the Community of Bradford. To offer a range of appropriate professional development opportunities for all the Free School’s staff to extend their skills and maximise their career potential and to provide a supportive environment for the training of future teachers. To invest in advanced educational technologies by participating in national and international research and development projects. To provide value for money for the funds expended. The Free School’s main driver is the replication of its heavily oversubscribed sponsor, Dixons City Academy. It also draws inspiration from the Charter School movement in the US. Several of our team have visited the highly successful Charter Schools in New York and this bid incorporates some elements of their mission and model. In this way we hope to refresh and reinterpret the vision and values of the original CTC set up 20 years ago. Dixons Free School (Secondary) 7 Section 4: Educational plan 4.1 Admissions The Free School’s admissions policy will comply with admissions law, the School Admissions Code of Practice and the School Admission Appeals Code of Practice as they apply to maintained schools. The Free School will have regard to and have an independent appeal panel which acts in accordance with the Secretary of State’s guidance on exclusions.